A Grave Meeting
by InnocentFighter
Summary: Marco knew that Ace had a second brother, but he knew that brother was dead. Sabo's never died, but he regrets his choice and wants to apologize to his brother in person; one problem he has no idea where Ace's grave is, until he tracks down Marco. This is that conversation. Implied Marcoace


**Truthfully I don't really have a reason for writing this, but I did, and here it is. Otherwise here's one of my stories its short, but I really did wonder how Sabo found out about the graves considering that he was dead and the only people that knew about the grave's location (canon wise) were the Whitebeard Pirates and Shank's crew, so that's what this is. I don't really know how I like it, but anyway hope you enjoy!**

 **DISCLAIMER I DO NOT OWN ONE PIECE**

 **See you at the bottom!**

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Marco leaned back against the booth, swirling the bottle of sake in his head watching with mild interest as the crew sung drunkenly or tried to keep their friends from embarrassing themselves further. Not that it would matter, they were still Whitebeard Pirates though the man himself was dead, no one would blame them from being rowdy. Like he hoped that no one would blame him from keeping the name alive, though the crew was smaller the members were true sons of Whitebeard. Not that those who had left weren't, he understood and let them leave, but he would cherish this small crew for all they're worth.

That's when his peaceful surveillance was broken, someone sat across from him. He moved his eyes to view his new drinking companion, maybe it was an old friend. The male sitting across from him was a stranger, he was young and blonde and also he was apparently well-to-do by the way he dressed. Marco turned to face him fully, intrigued and he was sure the crew wouldn't cause too much trouble while he figured out this stranger.

Carefully the stranger removed the top hat, with goggles. _Interesting, but I've seen weirder._ The hat was set on the seat next to the man, who then ran a hand through hat and wind tousled hair, he realized that it wasn't unlike Ace's.

 _Would it feel the same?_

Marco mentally smacked himself, this was a stranger completely unknown to Ace, it wasn't worth making the comparison. It had only been two years, and he wondered if he would be hearing about the Straw Hats shortly.

The man cleared his throat bringing Marco's attention to him.

"Are you Marco the Pheonix?" He asked.

"I'm sure you already know the answer to that, yoi." The captain replied, and looking closer he was sure he had seen this man before. "Since you know who I am, then you won't mind telling me who you are?"

The man laughed. "Sure, sure. I'm Sabo!"

The name was familiar, and thinking about it the first thing came to mind was a drunken confession from Ace. He recalled as the fire user sobbed a name over and over into his chest, the name had been Sabo and something about "he didn't deserve to die like that". So Marco crossed that potential off the list. Then, the second in command of the revolutionary army? There was no reason for him to be here, but it was more plausible than someone coming back from the dead.

"You're the number two of the revolutionary army?" He arched an eyebrow.

"Yeah, but I'm not here on business for that." Sabo waved his hand.

"Then why are you here? Surely you don't want to drink with a stranger."

Sabo laughed again before his face turned somber. "I have a request, a favor more like, and I know you have no reason to believe me, but at least hear me out."

Marco nodded.

"I want to know where you buried Ace."

"No." The reply was automatic, he didn't want to risk a marine finding out and ruining the last remaining tributes they had for the two fallen men.

"I said hear me out." Sabo raised his hands in a surrendering gesture. "It may be hard to believe, but I'm one of Ace's brother. Surely he mentioned me?"

Marco just watched.

"He probably mentioned that I was dead. Then, what can I do to convince you that I'm actually his brother?"

The captain said nothing, a few instances coming to mind of what could actually prove that this was one of Ace's brothers.

"The first place we ever hid our pirate fund was in a branch of a tree." Sabo said suddenly.

That was one of the things that came to mind that would help prove Sabo's statement. But Marco still wasn't convinced .This was the gravesite of his father and lover, he couldn't just disclose that information like that. It wouldn't sit right with him. It could've been a lucky guess.

"We made a deal that whoever could kill the King of the Jungle would be the captain of our crew." Sabo tried again.

That was something else had Ace told him, when the other had been sad because he was missing his younger brother. Two things was starting to make it more believable that this was the formerly late Sabo. Still not being dead after ten years? Why wouldn't he have tried to contact Ace.

Suddenly Sabo was bowing his head and Marco couldn't help but to blink in shock. He wasn't expecting this.

"Please! I know I've been a rotten brother, and I should've tried to save him like Luffy did. I have to apologize to him formally and make a promise. Please!"

It took him a second to realize that this was the second in command of the revolutionary army bowing his head _begging_ for the location of a grave. He was sure that there was no one in this world that would so willing discard his pride for something like this for a ruse and sound so genuine.

Marco sighed. "Alright."

"Seriously?" Sabo's head whipped up so fast it looked painful.

"If I'm going to tell you something then you have to tell me something in exchange."

The reply was instant. "Sure."

"Why didn't you tell Ace you were alive? It wasn't like he was hard to find." Marco was truly curious.

"I-" Sabo cleared his throat. "I didn't think that I could face him, I just tried to leave and only give him a letter explaining anything. He probably had to go through a lot trying to make sure Luffy would be fine. I didn't think I deserved that second chance he probably would've given me."

 _That's not what I expected._ Marco shifted in the booth. "He would've been so happy to see you. Everytime he got drunk and let out what was on his mind, he always mentioned you and how much it hurt that you weren't there and how proud you would've been."

Sabo's eyes wavered. "I guess its too late now to tell him."

Marco pulled out a pen and quickly jotted the coordinates onto a napkin. "Here, go make your apologies."

The other male took the napkin with quite a lot of reverence. His eyes darted back to Marco.

"Also, you should try and meet up with that troublemaker little brother you guys have."

Sabo nodded. "Thank you!"

The chief of staff stayed for a few minutes, letting the captain reminisce in silence. Just as suddenly as he came Sabo got up to leave.

"Thank you again."

"No problem." Marco smiled softly.

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 **Short, sweet, and to the point, had some subtle Marcoace in there, and when I wrote this I really don't know what I had in mind, and so this is what came of it and I hoped you liked it! Leave your thoughts below!**


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